Fall semester has always been my busy semester every year since freshman year. However, this semester has felt like the past fall semesters combined on steroids. Looking back through my google calendar, there’s only two weekends when I didn’t have anything scheduled and was able to actually rest and use it as a time to be productive and work on assignments. I have always heard that junior year is not for the week and as I am almost done with my fall semester, I can honestly say that it’s true and shouldn’t be taken with a grain of salt like I did.
I may have made the mistake of overbooking myself through the multiple orgs I am in, leaving me no time to just rest. But this is when good time management as well as building good habits come in. I wish I could say that managing my time is one of my strengths but that isn’t completely true. However, this semester has definitely helped me to be better at not wasting my time on my phone. Since I always have something to do, I don’t really have time to spend it online as much.
Prioritizing my sleep schedule was one of the other ways that I stayed motivated this semester. Sleep is something that affects how I feel every hour of every day and looking back at my freshman and sophomore year, it totally makes sense that I felt like a zombie since I was barely getting five hours of sleep every night. Now, I aim to get at least seven hours of sleep every night, and although I don’t always get seven hours, the nights that I do, I notice a huge difference in my mindset and mood.
Spending time with friends has something that I have been prioritizing more this semester compared to my sophomore year. This is because I have been trying to find a balance between my academics and social life, and I may be close to finding it. Due to how busy this semester has been, I haven’t been able to go home and see my family as much so seeing my close friends has been key to not feeling lonely and discouraged. I have also started calling my family more often to keep in touch. I may not call them every day but I have incorporated these family calls into my routine throughout the week. This way my family knows that they’re an important part of my week.
This last habit is one that I can get better at but eating well is extremely important. Trying to eat healthy and enough to fuel your day can be difficult, especially as a college student who barely has time to cook for myself without taking in consideration the fact that it can also get expensive. However, something that I started doing this semester was using HEB Curbside. I honestly dread going to the grocery store because I don’t like going alone and I always feel overwhelmed by all the different options. However, using curbside pickup makes the process much easier and faster, leaving me way more time to rest or be productive.
These habits have helped me improve mentally, physically, and emotionally throughout this semester. And although I can still improve on various things, like eating healthier and more often, I feel like these habits have made a difference in how my semester has turned out.